Water in my car!, anyone else ever have this problem? Options

[95st-celica]

alright...i had this problem before and i thought i had fixed it/cleaned it out...whats happeneing is at first i was getting water comming through the sunroof.....it must be sitting up where the hatch is or through the sail pannel...now celicas with sun roofs have 2 drain holes that go through the front of the car and dump out where the fenders are...at first i took a vacume and duct taped a straw to it to get into the drain holes and suck out all of the crud that was clogged up in there...that was last year...and i havent had a problem with it since then, up untill a few weeks ago...it came back. It got to the point that it was so bad, that when i would hit the brakes, it would literally soak the whole passenger seat, with a good amount of water...now instead of comming through the sunroof it seems to be somehow making its way down to the side of the passenger plastic kick pannel and flooding my passenger floor...i have never had this problem before and was wondering if anyone else had experienced it? and what you did to take care of it. i have to get back in there and clean them drains holes out again but i still dont understand how the water is making its way all the way down to the passenger floor.

[Tech-Nics]

Same thing happens to me. My drive way is just a steep hill so the car is on a incline the hole time. When it rains heavy all the rain runs towards the back and runs into the sunroof's sides. Problem there is the weather strip that goes along the sunroof's window is bad. If you look when you full close your sunroof you will see that there is enough space for water to drain into it. Although we have those 2 small drain holes. The sunroof is not supposed to get water in there period. A lot of water ends up above the interior's roof and sits there until you drive down a hill or brake and when either of them happen all that water rushes to the front. Remember those holes are tiny and with all that water that rushes to the front where the drain holes are isn't wide enough to catch all that water so some of it go into the drain and the rest leaks out from the slide door on the sunroof and onto the driver side or passenger side. It's so bad with my car that water comes out the courtesy light where the sunroof's tilt & open switch is. Also water runs down the side where the kick panel is just like yours. The only way to fix it is get the weather stripping replaced on the sunroof's window to have that snug tight close when you have the sunroof closed. I have compared my wife's 96 celica which doesn't have a sunroof leaking problem and I compared the weather stripping and there is barely any space for water to get into the inside of the sunroof. For now when I know its gonna rain I just put a big black garbage bag over it and put something on top to hold it down from getting blown off.

[95st-celica]

my exact same problem....so you think its the weather stripping? i was thinking that but then i said to myself naa theres no way...next tiem i go out to my car i'll check it out...thanks man i really appreciate it

[SAMIAM]

i can actually tell both of you how to fix your problem and its not the weatherstripping. I had the same problem . Ok, gonna rephrase that, there is a gap in the weatherstipping and thats how gunk got into your drains over time but you dont need to replace it to fix the problem. There are actually 4 drain holes. there are 2 in the back. i know this because i had the same exact problem of getting soaked when i broke hard or having water pour out of my courtesy light. The only way to fix this is to totally remove your headliner. once the headliner has been removed you will see 4 drain lines leaving from the 4 corners of your sunroof frame. It is not possible to see the drain holes for the back 2 or to clean them out without removing the headliner. even with the headliner removed you cant get to the "inside" holes for the drain unless you somehow removed the glass from above which isnt feasible. It is a bit of a pain to remove the headliner but i was able to do it in half an hour without a second person. Once the headliner is out you will clearly see all 4 of the drain lines running from the 4 corners of the sunroof tray assembly. the drain lines are clear flexible plastic with finger pinch clamps so its simple to undo them. once you undo them i would use a piece of wire to clean the holes in the front by sliding it down from above and sliding it up from the rear holes. Just basically ream the drain inlets out from below and above. This is how i fixed my problem and im confident it will fix yours. Over time the holes get clogged with a mixture of grease from the tracks, grime from the street/trees and the ever present gremlin poop.

once you feel like you have cleaned the drain holes well and cleaned the visible grime from the clear tubing, park the car on a flat surface. Using a 2 liter bottle of water or a small bucket or whatever slowly pour water over the roof of the car,making sure you pour directly into the four corners. This will send much more water that a rainstorm into the sunroof. if the drain lines are clear, you will see 4 individual water spots at each wheelwell as the drain lines dump out at each corner of the car. It will literally look like your car is peeing out of all 4 corners, right behind the wheels. With the headliner still removed you will also be able to see if there are any cracks or failures otherwise. This is how i fixed my problem and i can almost guarantee you are having the same problem. good luck!